Crowds of worshippers (right) perform the ‘wien tien’ ceremony around the newly restored and gleaming Chedi at Wat Phra That Doi Suthep. 50,000 Chiang Mai residents and visitors braved the rain to join the Visakha Bucha Day ceremonies on the evening of May 7, officially opened by Chiang Mai deputy governor, Chumporn Sangmanee, and organised by Boonlert Buranupakorn and the Chiang Mai Bureau of Buddhism. The huge crowd trod the 3km winding path from Kruba Sri Vichai monument up the mountain to the famous Doi Suthep temple, where they crowded round the gilded Chedi housing the relics of the Buddha.

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Phitsanulok boy in quarantine with flu symptoms

A boy in Phitsanulok province was quarantined last week after showing symptoms of influenza as he returned from a study exchange in a country where influenza A H1N1 had been detected.
Provincial deputy public health official, Thongpoon Taesombat, revealed that the boy had a high fever and was quarantined and put under observation at Buddha Chinnarat Hospital. The province’s medical sciences centre was conducting laboratory tests to determine whether he was carrying the H1N1 strain.
Last Thursday morning, Public Health Minister Witthaya Kaewparadai said that a teacher in the central province of Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya who recently returned from a trip to Europe was also quarantined and under observation after showing symptoms of influenza. However, laboratory tests later cleared the teacher of carrying the killer virus and officials stated that it was more likely seasonal flu.